PAUL DALE ANDERSON RIP OLD CHUM

Paul died last night around 7:30PM.  I would have been walking home around then, it had stopped raining and it wasn't that cold out at all. I knew Paul longer than I did most writers in the area, because I first met him when he and his late wife Gretta were editing and publishing 2AM, which I've always considered to be the best small press magazine to have been published in. So we're talking 1985, 1986 here. I'm still living in Rogers Park. Paul published "Bleeding Between The Lines" (which was illustrated by Douglas C. Klauba) and was the last part of the Dennis Cassady trilogy. Paul had read both "Rapid Transit" and "Take The 'A' Train" when they were reprinted in YEAR'S BEST HORROR over two respective years and was willing to look at the third piece.

Three years ago, he did a reading at UIC, part of Bad Grammar Theater, and I had the pleasure to meet Elizabeth Aisling Flygare, who was with Paul at the end, at his home in Rockford. They had met at the Rockford Library, surrounded by books. If you were in Paul's house, you were surrounded by books.

He also wrote many novels, the first was CLAW HAMMER, and I lost my unsigned paperback copy from the 80s  to someone who borrowed it and lost it. Thankfully, he had found a home with Crossroad Press and they have a whole stack of his work in their catalogue.The one pictured was signed to me by Paul last year before we headed to St. Paul with Roger Trexler, the designated driver since it was his car, for Arcana 47. We were able to meet William F. Nolan, who is best known for LOGAN'S RUN, but we were all glad to see artist and actor Rodger Gerberding again. That's him holding up his beard soon after we first arrived. Within an hour we would be watching Jack Palance in his only role as Dracula. Roger, by the way, published FIENDS BY TORCHLIGHT and I CAN'T COME CLEAN.

I'll miss you Paul. A lot of people are talking about you right now. Know peace.

My Name Is Ozmandius, uh, look upon me and, um despair...something like that

The book is finally out in all forms. Hardcover, trade paperback, and its been wireless for a few months. I'll be at Arcana in St. Paul next weekend, my first convention in a decade. Roger Dale Trexler will be picking me up and we shall then travel to Rockford to pick up Paul Dale Anderson. I haven't been to Arcana in years, and I'll talk more about it in future posts. But, anyways, here's the book. Buy it or recommend it. As always, my thanks to David Wilson and Crossroad Press.

RAPID TRANSIT: VOLUME ONE now available in hardcover, paperback, and wireless RIGHT NOW, GUYS!

Available from Crossroad Press. Foreword by David Niall Wilson.

A MONTH AGO TODAY WAS THE LAST BAD GRAMMAR THEATER AT FORTE. CLOSED.

RAPID TRANSIT VOLUME ONE IS LIVE

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Google. Possibly Apple and Kobo, you guys will have to check. My gratitude to David Dodd and David Wilson and everybody at Crossroad Press.

COMING SOON FROM CROSSROAD PRESS...

PRINTERS ROW JUNE 2016

I didn't have anything to sell, but I do try to run into as many people as I can with businesses cards people can use as bookmarks. This year I ran into Mark K. Braun, who has put a great deal of work into formatting the upcoming RAPID TRANSIT: 30 years of short fiction by Crossroad Press. He introduced me to Laura Enright, author of TO TOUCH THE SUN. I also ran into Jay Bonansinga and Jill Norton. Took me awhile to get the photos onto my computer.

COVER COURTESY MARK K. BRAUN

A few days back I spent most of the day going to and from the doctor's office and didn't even see what Mark posted on my Facebook page until the post already had 37 likes. There I was, MIA. The book is finally going to be a reality.Crossroad Press, at a date to be determined soon.

I AM THE AMERICAN DREAM

I AM THE AMERICAN DREAM, a collection of American Dream stories, will be published by Crossroad Press in the next few months. Harry Fassl had me dress up as AD to go with a story published in SEQUITER and Peggy Nadramia published the title story in her magazine GRUE. Illustrated by Douglas C. Klauba, I've added pieces of his other work, for "Corky's Quickies" in GRUE, as well as "Take The "A" Train" in (NOT) ONE OF US. As you can see from my recent illustration, I still am The American Dream.

I HAD ALMOST FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE DOG NAMED GIRLY-GIRL

Mark Gutmaker, an "avid fan" (as Hannibal Lecter might say) of horror writers will often link to my Facebook page a review of a story in an anthology I am in. Here is Mark's synopsis and my trip down memory lane...

Our narrator (Wayne Allen Sallee?) and Tom, his best childhood friend were requested to partake in an errand for a family not far from the duo. They were asked to watch over an eighteen year retarded female; the daughter of some friends of their families, as she was apt to attract trouble. She would usually loiter at taverns with the undesirables that often frequented them. The two were asked to take her infant daughter "girly-girl" to an adoption agency, as she cared for her like a feline; but often forgetting to feed her. During their sojourn to said agency, a pleasant and well-groomed man, pulled up to the duo at a traffic stop and couldn't help but notice the babe-in-arms. This man, with his aforementioned attributes and who owned his own business, seemed to be a perfect match for the child and, with no qualms, relinquished the tot to her new father and all was well. Life went on as usual and our narrator and his friend went their separate ways as they grew older, but Audry, the slow woman, stayed with her family in the same locale in Chicago. About fifteen years later, Audry became pregnant again and (Wayne) was again called upon to perform another "task". Some time later, out of the blue, he receives a letter from one Mercedes McBride (A.K.A. "girly-girl") who describes her hellish childhood in great detail; raped by her "father" and the lack of a maternal figure. She now works as a stripper; ironically dressed in a cat-suit. Along with the correspondence was an erotic photo with the words "You made me-Mercedes". Just how she found out about her infantile past still remains a mystery. Disturbing and chilling, this is a favorite from my good friend Wayne Allen Sallee....

Thank you as always, Mark. Believe it or not, this happened with a neighbor whose daughter was retarded. She had gotten the dog as a gift but could not care for it properly. My only friend at the time and I went to take the dog to a shelter. And I swear we had only gone down 85th to Springfield to Columbus in all of 30 seconds (you could have heard us if we yelled we were that close) when some guy driving a plumbing truck looked down while we were at the light. His kids had lost a dog to cancer just like the dog we were taking away, and we told him that. He took the dog, pumping our hands heavily. My friend and I then realized that we had been gone five minutes in a wedge-shaped manner. So we sort of had to drive zig-zag and went to Rainbo-Cone for awhile. We came back, the girl was crying. We told her the dog was adopted while we were still at the center! She asked about the family. We described the dad and that there were two kids (a guess) and he was a plumber. She stopped crying and hugged us and then twenty years later I wrote that twisted mess. How about that? And, yes. The dog's name was Girly-Girl.

The entire late summer afternoon is imprinted in my head right now.